{"id":15290,"date":"2025-12-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fire-and-ice-mitigation-and-burn-piles-help-fortify-against-wildfires\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:46:38","slug":"fire-and-ice-mitigation-and-burn-piles-help-fortify-against-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fire-and-ice-mitigation-and-burn-piles-help-fortify-against-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire and ice: Mitigation and burn piles help fortify against wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=052f61d6-5313-5a1a-a088-2f1bb4067cca&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1425\" alt=\"Kevin Lindner, fire prevention officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. Fire agencies took advantage of recent snowfall to burn slash piles that were created during forest mitigation efforts. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kevin Lindner, fire prevention officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. Fire agencies took advantage of recent snowfall to burn slash piles that were created during forest mitigation efforts. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Sometimes the job of a fire department is to start a blaze rather than put one out. Counterintuitive? Not according to Durango Fire Protection District Wildfire Battalion Chief Scott Nielsen.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Nielsen and six DFPD firefighters gathered in a snowy, forested glade next to the Durango West I subdivision to set several hundred slash piles and downed timber on fire. They sparked up their drip torches \u2013 metal cans with a nozzle in one end containing a mixture of gasoline and diesel \u2013 then went to work, igniting one pile after another, each one gradually springing into a 10-foot-high bonfire.<\/p>\n<p>The mood was relaxed \u2013 casual, daresay \u2013 because the situation was well under control.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=4ae9f615-e168-5732-88c7-0f0ba93216b5&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1787\" alt=\"Slash piles are set on fire Friday in an area of the forest that had been thinned earlier this year in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Slash piles are set on fire Friday in an area of the forest that had been thinned earlier this year in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The winter\u2019s first low-elevation snowstorm a few days before meant the piles could be burned safely without fear of a forest fire breaking out, which was good because the nearest house was just a stone\u2019s throw from the first pile. During the morning safety meeting, one of the main concerns was smoke inhalation, which firefighters could remedy by simply moving to a smokeless area for a while.<\/p>\n<p>Nielsen and his fellow firefighters walked among the burning piles, emerging and disappearing from thick columns as smoke. Each new fire was a beacon, signaling forest mitigation work that would make the community a little safer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ccfFkv0gCJ8\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Burn piles go up in smoke<\/div>\n<p>In effect, prescribed burns are meant to thin forests and clear flammable material from the forest floor while fire danger is low.<\/p>\n<p>Nielsen said there are two main methods: pile burns and broadcast burns. Pile burns are constituted by forestry workers or firefighters heaping logs, slash and twigs into a large pile that they later light. Broadcast burns are when wildland firefighters or other officials light a fire that they allow to spread over the forest floor and manage from growing too large. Often, the two go hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=00ba7cde-dff2-5818-8f0e-43202ebecab6&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1320\" alt=\"Joe Wayne, with Durango Fire Protection District, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Joe Wayne, with Durango Fire Protection District, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cPile burns are very controllable,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat really works well in a place like this is to burn the piles now and then. In a couple years, you could broadcast burn because you reduce so much brush and ladder fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prescribed burns are becoming a common tool in wildfire mitigation, especially in the urban-wildland interface, where houses butt up against and into forestland. Friday\u2019s burn was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/articles\/controlled-burns-planned-within-durango-city-limits\/\" id=\"link-8c1e44b295fa707301ef1fada13fc72d\" target=\"_blank\">one of several mitigation projects within DFPD\u2019s district<\/a>, with more being completed on federal land across Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Lorena Williams, a National Forest Service spokesperson, said the federal agency has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/r02\/sanjuan\/newsroom\/releases\/san-juan-national-forest-begins-pile-burning\" id=\"link-0d638f773df6ad69ecc2682ed9e57442\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">burns planned for ranger districts across the San Juan National Forest<\/a>. In the Columbine Ranger District specifically, hundreds of piles spread over nearly 120 acres will be burned throughout the winter.<\/p>\n<p>The burns were supposed to begin in November but were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/articles\/prescribed-burns-outside-bayfield-postponed-amid-federal-shutdown\/\" id=\"link-5587b0f11d7a541cb8c6c57e5e270786\" target=\"_blank\">delayed when the federal government shut down<\/a>. But, with federal employees back at work, the burns are proceeding as planned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColumbine fire and fuels crews are expecting to implement pile burns as weather allows, but the goal will be to be (completed) by the end of this winter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Williams said prescribed burns are meticulously planned to ensure there is no impact to human health and are done without risking a larger forest fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFavorable weather conditions must exist including, but not limited to, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, smoke dispersal, as well as fuel moisture,\u201d she said. \u201cAll elements must be within an acceptable range of prescription parameters described within a written burn plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=21ddc513-d707-5da5-bf79-787142e86956&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1362\" alt=\"Nate Christiansen, fire management officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Nate Christiansen, fire management officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Both DFPD and the Forest Service must adhere to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment\u2019s air quality standards. Burns are also typically done only after a measurable amount of snowfall and when weather conditions will allow smoke to blow away instead of settling over a residential area.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">In the business of saving money (with fire mitigation)<\/div>\n<p>Terry Hunt, who owns Wildfire Defense LLC, a Durango-based fire mitigation service, has been busy for the past two years. The low-snow winter of 2024-25 meant his four-person crew could work clearing brush away from homes and retrofitting houses with fire-resistant materials all winter, compared to most years when snow prevented them from doing so.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=12254601-0faa-5182-b857-57a32f2cffa5&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"868\" alt=\"From left, Ryan Hunt, Terry Hunt, Shelby Smith and Bryce Klinikowski. The crew of Wildfire Defense LLC work with homeowners and insurance underwriters to make houses less likely to burn down in a wildfire. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">From left, Ryan Hunt, Terry Hunt, Shelby Smith and Bryce Klinikowski. The crew of Wildfire Defense LLC work with homeowners and insurance underwriters to make houses less likely to burn down in a wildfire. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re busy this season,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cIt folded into last season, since last winter was basically more like a cold summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hunt is a certified wildfire mitigation specialist by both the National Fire Protection Association and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. He and his crew work alongside homeowners who want to defend their houses from wildfires and providers who insure those houses.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=f12ef91a-7e21-5cf3-bd71-73bd104b909f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1033\" alt=\"In addition to clearing forests of flammable material around a house, Wildfire Defense LLC retrofits homes to be more fire resistant with nonflammable materials. Here, 2 feet of rock cobble surround the house, with metal skirting, stone and concrete boards designed to look like wood sheathing the house. That recipe reduces the risk of a house catching fire. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">In addition to clearing forests of flammable material around a house, Wildfire Defense LLC retrofits homes to be more fire resistant with nonflammable materials. Here, 2 feet of rock cobble surround the house, with metal skirting, stone and concrete boards designed to look like wood sheathing the house. That recipe reduces the risk of a house catching fire. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>With wildfires becoming more of a threat to communities across the West \u2013 the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles in January being a key example \u2013 insurance rates have risen.<a href=\"https:\/\/source.colostate.edu\/wildfire-risk-is-driving-up-insurance-costs-for-colorado-homeowners\/\" id=\"link-772e07622c6e81947dd224bc74e162ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> A study from Colorado State University<\/a> found rates increased by 58% in Colorado between 2018 and 2023 with fire being a main driver.<\/p>\n<p>Hunt himself lives in Forest Lakes north of Bayfield, ground zero for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/articles\/blue-ridge-fire-a-symptom-of-larger-problem\/\" id=\"link-9436b0e0ea22e7a966b527660f54e53b\" target=\"_blank\">the Blue Ridge Fire<\/a> in August, and has dealt with insurance providers unwilling to take on the risk of insuring his house. But the mitigation work he has done on his own property convinced a provider to insure him.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=545044ce-644e-520f-a199-0f3a432a4660&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1275\" alt=\"Kevin Lindner, fire prevention officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kevin Lindner, fire prevention officer with the San Juan National Forest, uses a drip-torch to set a slash pile on fire Friday in western La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cI\u2019m a homeowner and I can understand what a nightmare it would be if you lost your affordable homeowners insurance,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cSo yeah, so it\u2019s kind of a priority for me. I mean, I\u2019ll even move projects up in the schedule if it\u2019s an insurance issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hunt focuses on making sure homeowners can keep their insurance rates affordable by removing wildfire risk from their properties, sometimes with insurance referrals and sometimes just at the request of a homeowner.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=a848c477-a625-5fc0-96d3-dde497953ba7&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1138\" height=\"340\" alt=\"A diagram on Wildfire Defense LLC\u2019s website breaks down the \u201cdefensible space\u201d around a house into three zones. A good rule of thumb, owner\/operator Terry Hunt said, is that the closer to the house, the more flammable material is removed. That creates a buffer that is hard for a wildfire to get through. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A diagram on Wildfire Defense LLC\u2019s website breaks down the \u201cdefensible space\u201d around a house into three zones. A good rule of thumb, owner\/operator Terry Hunt said, is that the closer to the house, the more flammable material is removed. That creates a buffer that is hard for a wildfire to get through. (Courtesy of Terry Hunt)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Balancing ecosystems by bringing fire back<\/div>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=af3291ff-1441-5208-9492-4b3ebf9ef2fc&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"Slash piles are set ablaze Friday in an area that had been thinned earlier this year west of the Durango West I subdivision in La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Slash piles are set ablaze Friday in an area that had been thinned earlier this year west of the Durango West I subdivision in La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Wildfires in the past century have become larger, more destructive and harder to control. The reason is twofold: dryer, hotter summers caused by climate change, and a century of hard-line fire suppression management strategy that allowed fuels to build up to unnatural levels, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/noaa.gov\/noaa-wildfire\/wildfire-climate-connection\" id=\"link-843d608fc30beefe50ef767e6da27760\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/noaa.gov\/noaa-wildfire\/wildfire-climate-connection\" id=\"link-6de5d5f8f5382ca7eb7c04f216ae6159\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the National Forest Foundation<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe forests in Southwest Colorado are part of a fire-adapted ecosystem, which historically experienced frequent, low-intensity fires on a large scale,\u201d Williams said. \u201cPrescribed fire replicates that natural fire regime and increases the area on our landscape that has been burned at low and moderate conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The benefits of these low-intensity prescribed burns do more than reduce wildfire risk by clearing out flammable fuels. The National Forest Foundation found that \u201clow to moderate-intensity fires can play a key role in keeping those same ecosystems healthy by reducing understory density and returning nutrients to the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nielsen said that with less plant life, there is less competition for nutrients and sunlight, meaning more trees can grow to be healthy. That in turn allows them to grow to be healthier and more resilient to disease and insect infestation. Additionally, wildlife have more room to forage and can more easily see predators in open forests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want a diversity of native species in here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cut a mix of tree age and size and class, so even if a drought comes or bug infestation comes, this place should survive with good seed stock and good genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This method of forest management, Nielsen said, can make a forest a renewable resource. On Friday\u2019s burn, a pile of large logs were stacked alongside an access road. It would be a waste to burn them, which is why DFPD donates them as firewood to nonprofits that distribute it through the community.<\/p>\n<p>Hunt\u2019s crew also turns whatever trees it cuts down into firewood, which is given to either the property owner or left on the side of the road for someone else to take. But instead of burning slash, the crew donates it to Table to Farm to be composted, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not burning down the forest, we\u2019re not clear cutting,\u201d Nielsen said. \u201cYou can still see all the squirrels and deer and critters out here. Good mitigation should look good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=a1eae539-f22d-53f0-ad4a-e78742fac77c&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1317\" alt=\"Slash piles are set ablaze Friday in an area that had been thinned earlier this year near the Durango West I subdivision in La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Slash piles are set ablaze Friday in an area that had been thinned earlier this year near the Durango West I subdivision in La Plata County. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p><em id=\"emphasis-c1f5890b4e7de3166933daf87465f684\"><a href=\"mailto:sedmondson@durangoherald.com\">sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>urban-wildland interface is changing \u2013 so is the approach to wildfire preparedness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,918,28,994,549,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-forests","tag-headlines","tag-trueanthem","tag-united-states-forest-service","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15290"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19579,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15290\/revisions\/19579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15290"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}